Mangiapane primed to move out of the hotel and start life with Flames out of training campBack to video

Meaning that he logged sleeps from around Christmas to the National Hockey League all-star break.

Then again from Jan. 30 until the National Hockey League playoffs, when he got a place (briefly), which lasted only through the first round before the Flames were eliminated in five games by the Colorado Avalanche.

This fall, however, Mangiapane is tired of the hotel living and bound and determined to earn a permanent residency in Calgary. More importantly, a permanent stall in the Flames’ dressing room.

It’s looking that way, at least to start the 2019-20 regular season, that the five-foot-10, 184-pound speedy left winger is sticking around — which would be the first time he has lasted this long in fall training camp since the Flames drafted him 166th overall in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL draft.

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But that fact — the excitement of cracking the Flames NHL roster and not being dispatched to the American Hockey League — has simply not factored into his day-to-day thought process.

“You still have to show up every day, right?” said Mangiapane, who has proven to be a speedy addition to the team’s third and fourth lines. “Whether you’re on the team or just trying to make the team, or whatever. You see it from guys like Gio (Mark Giordano), guys that have been here for however many years. Being a rookie, you still have to come in and work hard. At any given moment, someone can take your spot. It’s an every day business — it always will be.

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“For me, personally, you just come and try to help the team win and work hard in practice.”

Mangiapane has done exactly that since arriving a few days late, after the training camp started due to contract negotiations with the Flames.

The 23-year-old Toronto native inked a one year, two-way contract worth US$715,000, a rather pointless impasse considering Mangiapane’s agent, Rich Winter, had reportedly asked for US$850,000 before ultimately accepting the Flames’ original offer.

With that in the rearview mirror, however, Mangiapane can concentrate on the season ahead which is a big one.

He knows it.

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The Flames know it.

And whatever happens this week as the team finalizes their roster by the Oct. 1 cap compliance deadline, Mangiapane is just trying to be a good professional every single day.

“I don’t know. You just try not to even think about it too much,” said Mangiapane, who logged five pre-season contests but had no points. “Because you don’t really know what’s going to happen. Every day, that’s exactly what it is. Maybe in the back of your mind, yeah, I think I’ve kind of proven myself through the last 30 games and in the playoffs and all that. I think I was effective. I showed them I’m an everyday NHL player in my eyes, right?

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“You just have to still come here every day and work hard. That’s exactly it.”

Mangiapane earned rave reviews from the coaching staff and management for his five game stint on the fourth line with Garnet Hathaway and Derek Ryan in the post-season. He scored only once, but his contributions extended beyond than that as he added an element of speed and get-up-and-go to the lineup.

In the regular season, he contributed eight goals and five assists in 44 games. During the 2017-18 campaign, he logged 10 games and had zero points, and underwent shoulder surgery in the off-season.

There is an upward trajectory to his game and to continue that, he knows he needs to approach it like a veteran.

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“Gio is a perfect example,” said Mangiapane of the Flames captain. “He just won fitness testing, so it’s about working hard so that when you go on the ice, it becomes second nature to you.

“Every year you are more comfortable. Last year, I had my shoulder surgery. So I was a bit behind all that. You know the guys, you know the team, you know the trainers so you can ask for stuff so you’re getting what you need and feeling good every day. I am feeling more confident in my game.”

Which, eventually he hopes, will allow him to make Calgary his home permanently.

“Maybe when I get my house, I’ll feel a little more settled and everything like that,” Mangiapane said with a smile. “We’ll see what happens.”

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